A/N: I am so glad that people like this! Moulin Rouge! Is my favorite movie (I just rented it from the library AGAIN…but sadly my DVD player is annoying and I guess the DVD was scratched so the WHOLE entire come what may scene was skipped over. Like seriously it pauses when Satine is in Christian's garret and says 'everyone knows…Harold knows' it pauses for a few seconds and then the next thing it shows it the Duke standing up and saying "I don't like this ending" needless to say that didn't go over to well with me) like I was saying, it is my favorite movie and I think it will be for a very long time. So…luckily for you I won't be quitting on this story because its one of my favorites to write! YaY!
The next few weeks flew by like hours. Satine, within the first week, adjusted to her new home and felt like she belonged there and Christian's family definatly made her feel welcome. Carolina became very close to Satine just as she was to Christian and Marianna and Satine started to become very good friends. Sometimes when Christian was busy with something for a few hours Satine and Marianna would go for a walk around the block. On one of those walks, Satine finally admitted to what her old job was. To her surprise, Marianna didn't say anything and just let Satine tell her story. Satine said that she wasn't proud of what she did and that she really had no say in the matter. She had no family to go to and if she refused Zidler then she would end up on the street. Marianna only had one question. "Did you seduce my brother?" Satine laughed at the question and shook her head, "I attempted to," she answered, "but only because I thought he was someone else." Marianna seemed a little skeptical about Satine's answer but then she told herself that Christian would never allow something like that to happen to him.
Every day when she and Marianna came home, Christian would still be upstairs. Carolina would come pouting down the stairs and look up at Marianna. "Christian still won't play with me." She would say and the two older females would laugh and Marianna would take her upstairs to her room to play with her. Once Marianna would do that Satine would go into the library and pick out something to read. Every time she came home she would feel the need to run up to Christian and hug him or kiss him. She never knew what he was doing up there. The first time he ever did it he told her not to come up, then he smiled, it's a surprise. She always wondered what the surprise could be but nothing logical ever came to her mind.
That only happened once a week though. The rest of the days he would spend with her. In the first two weeks he took her all over London. He showed her his favorite restaurants and one of his favorite book stores. He showed her everything there had to do with London and she absolutely loved it. The city was so alive unlike Montmarte and it was so much cleaner than Montmarte. She felt normal and even though she knew she still had the disease it felt like it wasn't there at all. One day as they were returning to their house and Christian was talking to her about something, she got to thinking about her condition. If she never met Christian then she would have died so much sooner, she would have died miserable. But because she met him and they fell in love, he persevered until they were safe and sound. And now she had a chance of living longer and spending every precious moment with him. Christian was partly a symbol of life and death. Without him, she would die but with him she could live. She forgot that Christian was in a completely different conversation than what was going on in her head so when she suddenly turned to Christian and kissed him he was a little surprised. Although he enjoyed it he couldn't help but give her a confused stare when they separated, "Apparently you like the flowers in the front yard." He said with a hint of question in his voice and she smiled and took his hand and continued to walk back to the house and let him wonder why she sprung that surprise kiss on him.
One day, almost two months after Christian and Satine arrived, Marianna took the twins out for the day so Christian and Satine could have some alone time. It was a warm and sunny day so Christian took Satine out into the backyard. He laid out a blanket on the grass and set up a picnic basket for them. Satine had a flashback to the time they went on a picnic with the Duke. She was just glad that they were alone and didn't have to sneak little kisses when the Duke's back was turned.
Christian pulled her down onto the blanket and sat her between his legs. She grinned and looked over her shoulder so she could see his face. He kissed the side of her face gently and wrapped his arms around her. She lightly rested back against him so she wouldn't knock him over and closed her eyes and for a while they just sat there and enjoyed each others company and the warmth from the sun.
The door to the Parker Place swung open and two people walked in. An older man with white hair came in with a brown haired middle aged woman. The man put some luggage down right by the door and called out for Marianna and the twins. He turned to the woman, "They might be out on the town. Marianna does like to do that." The woman smiled and nodded. He led her along as they looked around the house for any sign of anybody. As they got close to the back door they heard giggling from outside. He looked over at the woman and pulled open the back door.
Christian and Satine changed positions after a while and opened up the picnic basket. Christian now lay on his side and propped himself up with his elbow. Satine sat across from him with her legs tucked under her. She was eating some fruit that he prepared and she kept giggling because Christian kept grinning at her.
"Why do you keep staring at me like that?" she laughed and Christian just shrugged. "Well stop it!" She said half serious and continued to eat her fruit. She put on her serious face although they both knew she was just acting. Christian got to his knees and Satine noticed a look in his eyes. She stifled a laugh and covered her mouth and then once she swallowed what was in her mouth she gave him a serious look. He started to crawl over to her slowly but the same look remained on her face. He stopped only inches away from her face and that silly grin still remained spread across his face. Suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye and smirked inwardly. Suddenly her face turned into one of seduction, "Oh Christian."
"Yes my darling," he answered in an almost whisper.
She leaned forward and as her lips touched his just slightly, she stuck her hand into the cream pie next to her and then placed it all on the side of his face. He pulled back quickly and landed on his behind. He took his hand to his face and wiped a little off with his fingers to see what the hell was on his face. He looked at Satine with a shocked expression and she just started to laugh hysterically at the priceless look he had on his face. "We're going to play games now are we?" He asked after getting over the surprise of what his love just did to him. "Then let the games begin!"
She squealed and got to her feet and started to run away from the picnic blanket. He jumped up and chased after her with the cream still on the right side of his face. He finally caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. He pressed the right side of his face to her left and she laughed. He turned her around and they both had a big grin on their face. Christian put his clean hand on her clean cheek and pulled her in for a kiss. As the kiss intensified, Christian brought both his hands to her waist and lifted her feet off the ground and spun her around. Once she started to get dizzy she broke off the kiss and started to laugh. He placed her back on the ground and she smiled at him. "You look ridiculous," she laughed out.
"Yes, well whose fault is that?" he came back at her and she made a face. "Let me clean it up."
"Well the napkins are back there…" he pointed his over his shoulder.
"Who said anything about napkins?" she raised her eyebrows suggestively and pressed her lips gently to his chin and started to lick away the cream with her tongue. He closed his eyes and suppressed a moan. "I'm so glad you shaved," she muttered against his face. "Or this wouldn't have been as much fun." She continued on seductively. Just as she was just about finished she saw two people standing at the door way. Her eyes widened and she disappeared behind Christian. When he felt the sudden disappearance of her mouth against his face his eyes opened. "What's the matter?" He asked when he saw that her cheeks were beat red. "There are two people watching us." She hissed quietly.
Christian spun around and his jaw dropped. "That's my father…"
"Christian!" His father's voice echoed throughout the whole yard and Christian grabbed Satine's hand and ran over to the picnic blanket with her. He grabbed some napkins and wiped off the remaining cream that was on his face and handed her some and she did the same thing. He put the dirty napkins in one half of the picnic basket and then closed it up and walked over to his father smoothly with Satine by his side.
"Hello Father." Christian greeted and his father looked him over.
"So it appears you didn't waste your life away on a can-can dancer." 'Quite the contrary' Christian felt like saying, 'She made my life complete.' But Christian could only nod.
"Hmmm…" He turned his attention the woman beside him and Christian followed his gaze. Christian tried not to look too confused at seeing this new woman next to his father. "Annabelle, this is my eldest son, Christian. Christian this is Annabelle." The older lady held out her hand and Christian took it gently and kissed her knuckles out of respect. "Very pleasurable boy you have here Chris," Annabelle said in response to his actions.
"Yes…" He lifted his head slightly at Christian, "Quite unfortunate we caught you in such an intimate moment my son. Would care to introduce your lady friend?"
"Of course," Christian nodded, "Father this is Satine, Satine this is my father."
Christopher reached out for Satine's hand and kissed it lightly. "Pleasure my lady."
Satine smiled at him but looked over at Christian awkwardly.
"I suppose you met her in France." Christopher stated seeing her awkward looks and Christian nodded. "Not that there is anything wrong with that. Paris is the city of love I've heard. Tell me," he scractched his chin and looked at Satine, "Did he talk to you of his obsession with love."
Christian sighed quietly and Satine giggled, "Yes, It's what convinced me to love him. He also tells me that you think its ridiculous."
"I do think it is ridiculous," he confirmed.
"It can't be that ridiculous if it convinced me to love him. Personally, I believe in everything Christian says. You can't live your life with love for it is the greatest thing you'll ever learn." Christian smiled softly and put his arm around her. He was definatly sure he just fell in love with her all over again.
Christopher seemed to ignore her and snapped his fingers, "what is that you always say Christian? Love is like…"
"Love is like oxygen." Both Satine and Christian said together, "Love is a many splendored thing, love lifts us up where we belong, all you need is love."
"Yes. That's it." Christopher said and he sounded surprised.
"Father just because you don't believe in true love doesn't mean it isn't real." Christian shook his head and smiled lightly. His father's brow furrowed and it looked exactly like Christian's, Satine noted. "Can we go inside? I have a lot to explain to you and I would feel much more comfortable inside." Christian asked and his father nodded and went inside without a word. Annabelle followed him quietly and Christian sighed. He looked over at Satine and she gave him a sympathetic smile. She took his hand and gave it a squeeze that said 'Everything will be alright.' He returned a nod and walked inside with her.
They found Christopher and Annabelle in the den just sitting and waiting for them. He led Satine over to a chair and let her sit down. She smiled at him softly and he walked into the center of the room.
"Well go on, speak boy." He gave him the go ahead.
Christian sighed, "Father, what Satine and I have is, to put it simply, amazing. She is my everything and I don't know how I survived twenty three years without her. Before I ever knew her, to me love was just something that I was out looking for and hoping for. Love was something I could only read about in books and sit for hours and think about and try to write about. But of course, how could I write about something that I have no experience in. I couldn't print something that was false. But now that I know her, now that I love her, I know that everything I learned about love is true and so much more than that. When you're in love it feels like," he smiled lightly, "like you've never seen the sky before and the world seems like such a perfect place no matter what is going around you. You're in your own world when you're in love and that world moves with such a perfect grace. No matter how bad things get or how bad things were, love makes your life seem so much better than it is and you know that nothing will ever come between you and your lover."
"But love can't last forever," Christopher retorted.
"True love can," he held up his finger then pointed it at his father, "and I can prove it."
"Satine," he looked over to her and she picked up her head in response, "May I?" She knew what he was asking of her and she nodded. They would all find out sooner or later anyway.
"You see, Satine is…Satine has consumption." Annabelle gasped a little and covered her mouth while Christopher just looked over at Satine who kept her gaze focused upon her lover.
"And one night she had a very bad attack and I thought she died. I thought my life was over. Satine became my world and now that she was gone, I didn't know what there was to live for. And your voice came into my head father. I thought at that time that you were right. Everything that I heard about love overcoming death was a lie. I felt deceived and I didn't know what to think anymore."
"For three months I stayed at this kind older lady's home where she took care of me. I barely ate, I rarely got out of bed, and I cried myself to sleep every night. Well…not every night just for the first two weeks then I just stayed awake until my body could take no more and I fell asleep on my own. But then, when Brigitte, the woman I was staying with, finally got me to leave the house I saw her. My Satine, my sparkling diamond." Satine smiled, her old name didn't sound so bad when Christian claimed it as his.
"Father, true love brought us back together, don't you see? We were parted for three months until we finally were returned to each other. This," he started and walked over to Satine. He offered her his hand which she greatly accepted and he helped her to her feet. He pulled her close and put his arm around her waist, "what you see before you, is proof that love is a true and very real thing. If what we had was just an infatuation, we wouldn't be here standing before you."
"How exactly is this proof?" Christopher asked still not really understanding his son.
"Satine almost died! I almost died because I thought she was dead, yet somehow, our love was so strong that it was able to pull us together again. I love her with every fiber of my being and every day I love her more and more it's just a miraculous thing. When I feel like I can't love her more, I see her smile and it's like I just fell in love for the first time." He looked over at Satine who was now grinning at him. "I love you."
She turned and placed a hand on his chest. "I love you too." She leaned forward and gave him a small peck on the lips. He apparently was satisfied with that so he did the same back to her but more than once. Finally they had enough of teasing each other and their lips came together in a deeper kiss. She slid her hands up his chest and around his neck while he held her close by the waist. Their love radiated off of them and filled the room slowly. It finally reached Christopher and his hard facial features suddenly softened. He watched his son kiss the woman he loved and saw that he never looked so happy in his life.
Christopher suddenly felt guilty. For years he shot Christian down. His first son came to him with what he thought was brilliant ideas but he would only shoot Christian down and tell him that he was ridiculous. He would dismiss Christian whenever he tried to show him one of his poems and tell him that he shouldn't be writing.
Ever since his first wife died he was distant from his children, well at least Marianna and Christian. Marianna would try to communicate with him and when he wouldn't she would tell him that he never talks to them anymore but Christian would never speak up he was always quiet. He would sit in the corner with his typewriter and pick away at the keys and occasionally look over to where his sister and father stood arguing. He sometimes wrote about what he was feeling when this was happening but he hid them away so neither his sister nor his father would ever see. Then somehow his father would pull Christian into the argument and then yell at him for not answering. Then Marianna would tell their father that maybe Christian didn't have anything to say and to leave him out of their argument. Their father would then tell her to be quiet and not to talk to him in such a manner and to leave the room at once. Once Marianna did so, Christian gathered his typewriter and paper and quietly left the room after her so he wouldn't have to face his father.
Perhaps the reason why he was so bitter towards Christian and Marianna was because they reminded him so much of their mother. He never wanted to admit it but he was broken when she died. He thought that he found a life partner and they had two beautiful children together but then she died and was gone forever.
Christopher shook his head from his thoughts and saw that Christian and Satine were staring at him.
He cleared his throat and rose to his feet. He approached his son and his lover. He looked Christian in the eyes and both their faces were unreadable. "Christian." Christian nodded at his father's voice. "I'm sorry." Utter Surprise was evident on Christian's face when he heard his father say this.
"About what?"
"About everything. How I treated you and your sister after your mother passed away and how I didn't accept your choice of hobby and how I insulted your beliefs in love. Obviously love is what is most important to you in your life and I shot that down." He looked over at Satine, "You are a very lucky woman to have him in your life. He is a wonderful man and I am proud to have him as my son."
"Thank you." Christopher turned back to his son when he heard his voice. Christopher placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded. Christian put his hand on his fathers shoulder and smiled a bit. Christopher shook his head lightly and then pulled Christian in for a father/son hug. Christian stood there awkwardly for a moment for his father never gave him a hug before. Christopher patted Christian's back and then pulled back. "You're right Christian, only love can make something like that happen." Christopher took Satine's wrist and Christian's and brought their hands together. "You may stay here as long as want to."
Satine smiled and rested her head on Christian's shoulder who stared at his father in shock. "Really? You don't mind us here?"
"Not at all." He nodded at them and then retreated back to his seat next to Annabelle.
"Thank you father, we really appreciate it."
Christopher nodded and motioned for them to leave the room, "Go ahead and continue your picnic, I didn't mean to disturb you."
Christian grinned and led Satine out of the room.
Once they were outside again, Satine threw arms around Christian's neck. She smiled and buried her head into his shoulder. "What's the matter?" he asked.
She lifted her head so her mouth was right beside his ear, "Your family is amazing. Just like you."